A bit of old farm

in #photography7 years ago

This is a detail of a side wall of an old farm, built in the traditional way: a frame of oak beams is set up, and the empty spaces are filled with reed or willow wicker, or whatever is available locally. The resulting walls are sealed with loam:


Olympus Stylus 1s, 42mm, ISO400, f8, 1/125s

Insects like solitary bees like to live in such walls, and they make holes in it; too many holes, and the loam falls out. Not a good thing for the farm building, but it does allow a closer look at what is inside the construction.

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Cool view of the walls interior. We call that "wattle and daub" construction. Our Acacia trees in Australia are known as Wattle trees because the early European settlers used them for this.

Interesting. Before I moved, I used to live in an old 150 year old Irish farmhouse (over 170 years now). It truly amazed me when making repairs to discover that the metre thick walls were also made up from wood twigs, boulders, soil and alsorts.
Also, inside each corner of the building an egg was carefully placed.
It all sounds quite strange compared to building regulations now, but it was a very sturdy house and I would think it will probably be standing in another 170 years.

Oh my ! Someone just poured wooden twigs by concrete :-) How old is this farm?

About 200 years, but this type of construction goes way back.

Lovely Photography....

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As that guy in a blue shirt and too-short pants on older TV would say, "Fascinating". Life is truly amazing, thanks for the view and discussion.

Nice wall. Solitary bees must love it.